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(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. W. BORNTRAEG'ER.

PILE OF IRON. No. 268,385 Patented Dec. 5, 1882.

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WMM My 3- Woman? (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

-H. W. BORNTRAEGER.

PILE 'OF IRON.

Patented eals. 1882. M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARNEGIE BRorHERs & co.,

(LIMITED,) or sAME rLAcE.

PlLE OF IRON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,385, dated December 5, 1882.

Application filed May 3, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY W. BORNTRAE- GER, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Piles of Iron; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Heretofore in working up railroad-rails into Inerchantable shapes they have been cut, both longitudinally and laterally, into pieces, and then piled preparatory to being placed in the heating-furnace. Usually these piles have been bound around by straps or bands of iron. By my invention I make use of the rails without 1 slitting or binding. I make a pile exactly adapted to the production of an I or channel beam by interlocking the heads and flanges ot' the rails used therein with each other. At the same time I so dispose the metal that the reduction of the pile in rolling, necessary to compacting it and closing up the interstices in the formation of the web of the I or channel beam, shall not break down, distort, or weaken the fiber. Thus I retain the full strength of the material.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now describe it by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which 0 Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved pile, and Figs. 2 to 7 are, respectively, cross-sections of thebeam as it appears after six passes through the rolls.

Like letters of referenceindicate like parts in.

each.

1n forming this pile I use six rails, to b c d e f, and top and bottom pieces, g h. The pieces 9 h are fiat bars. of a suitable width,thickness, and length. Two rails, to and b, are placed 40 side by side on the bottom piece, h. Then the two rails c and cl are placed on their sides on top of the rails a b, the web of c resting on the head of a, and the web of (i resting on the head of b, and with their heads or flanges inward 5 and abutting against each other. I prefer to put the flanges of the rails c and d inward, as shown in the drawings. I then place the two remaining rails cf on top, in an inverted position, their heads resting upon the upper sides of the webs of the rails c and d, and then I place the top piece, g, upon the bottoms of the rails c f. I then insert muck or other bars, 73 k.

in the interstices of the pile, between rails a b and 6]". The pile thus formed is locked together by the arrangement of the rails, and is lifted and placed in the heating-furnace in the position shown in Fig. 1. The heat of the furnace softens the metal and causes the constituents of the pile to weld or stick together sufficiently to enable it to be handled or taken from the furnace and inserted into the rolls without falling to pieces. The rolls have pref erably six passes, which reduce the pile successively to the forms in cross-section. (Shown by Figs. 2m 7.) The first pass closes up the 6 interstices of the pile, and in doing so forces the rails c and d into the web part of the beam and welds the constituents of the pile firmly together. The result is the I-beam shown by Fig. 7, in which the fiber of the metal remains 7o unstrained, whereby I obtain an I-beam of great strength and rigidity.

The advantages of my improved pile consist in its simplicity of arrangement, the avoidance of the use of bands or ties, the ease and 7 safetywith which it may be handled, the rapidity and thoroughness with which it may be heatedQowing to its open structure, and the consequent savingof time and fuel in the heating-furnace, the small cost of preparing it, and the utilization ofrailroad-rails without slit-ting or reforming them.

The top and bottom and filling pieces should be of the same material as that of the rails composing the pile.

The fillers i 7.: may be omitted, if desired.

A simpler pile, which may be used for making a similar shape, may consist of the rails a c c, with top and bottom pieces of suitable width.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A pile composed of one or more sets of three rails each, two of the rails of each set arranged with their heads to the center and abntting against the opposite sides of the web of an interposed rail, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A pile for making I-beams, consisting of two rails placed in their normal position, two

rails resting with their webs on the heads of In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 10 the first two, two rails in an inverted position, hand this 28th day of April, A. D. 1882. and resting by their heads on the webs of second two, and top and bottom pieces, substanl tially as and for the purposes described.

3. A pile for making I-beams, consisting of Witnesses: six rails arranged as described, and top and WILLIAM W. YOUNG, bottom and filling pieces, substantially as and FRANCIS ARDARY. for the purposes described.

HENRY W. BORNTBAEGER. 

